Method of treating oil-wells.



A. P. BLTEN. METHOD OF TREATING OIL WELLS.

' APPLIOATIVON FILED FEB. 13, 1909. 956,058, Patented Apr. 26, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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Patented Apr. 26, 1910.

2 SHEETS-11123! 2.

A. P. ELTEN.

METHOD OF TREATING OIL WELLS.

I 1 I 1 I I I I I l I u v APPLICATION FILED FEB. 13 956,058.

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'IlIlIIIIIl/III Toallwhmn'it UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED P. ELTEN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOB '20 E. E. BUBLINGAME, 01?

. NEW YORK, N. Y.

METHOD OF TREATING OIL-WELLS.

concerm Be it known at I, .Anrnnn P. Emu, a citizen of the United States and resident of New York, State of New Y ork, have in-.

vented certain new and. useful Im rovements in Methods of Treatin Oil-llells; and I do hereby declare that t e following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will'enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference bein had to the accompaniyi'ing drawings, which orm part of this speci cation.

- This invention relates, principally, to methods of treating wells producing crude oil whose base consists of paraflin, asphaltum or other hydro-carbons that are lia le, either through intimate contact with water and air, or otherwise, to saponify, thicken or congealfto such a degree of viscousness as to not only clog the oil-yielding crevices and fissures of the well, and coat the cavit of the latter, but also cause the bore of t e pump with its valves, and the well-tubin to become so contracted by the fatty, hy -carbonaceous deposits thus formin that the flow of the oil is therethroug materially impeded, and eventually ceases altogether.

The main object of my invention is to be able to at all times, and uninterruptedly, o erate oil-wells with a possible maximum 0 outut of the oil in its natural and unaifecte or not deteriorated, therefore most advanta eous condition; more particularly, to read' y bring the more orless visc1d residuum or sediment of crude oil or petrolawn to the surface together with the comparatively volatile constituents or elements of the same, which I accomplish by suitably subjecting the oil-bearing or productive stratum of the sand-rock formation in close proximity to the well-cavity, throu h which the oil percolates, to the more or ess continued penetrating and searching action of heated, flowing, permanent, neutral gases under pressure, at the same time keeping the-oil through its-passing up the well-tube to the surface together with these gases at such a tem erature as to assure a hi h degree of fluldity, and preferably while the oil iplumsp is in o eration.

e ow exu ation of the oil through the sand-bed, in a large number of wells, may be Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 18, 1809. Serial No. 477,771.

Patented Apr. 26, 1910.

ascribed to the presence therein of, and continued contact of the oil with, salt-water. The flows and streamlets of the latter and of the oil, varying widely as to relative quantities, in converging toward the openings of the anchor are necessaril brought into more or less intimate contact 1n the porous, limited zone immediately surrounding the well-cavity, or shot-hole, with the result that, due to the thickening action of the salt-water on the oil under certain conditions, the veins and interstices, or seams, of this section become in time partly or wholly mmed-up. To not only open the crevices of the oil-sands, but also to reduce, or if possible altogether remove, this tendency to orm obstructing deposits or accumulations of oleaginous matter, or of kindred substances, I generate or rovide a suitable workingor heating-me 'um in the form of a gas, or mixture of ses, at or near the mouth of the .well and orce the same, preferably, through the annular space between the casing an the well-tube, into the cavity of the oil-yielding stratum after having tightly closed the upper end 0 the said casing throu h which the well-tube projects, allowing ese gases, subsequently to ascend throu h the pump and the well-tube, in a heate condition, and to pass from the tube throu h a valve'which is adapted to regulate e pressure of the said ses while in the well, if the pressure of well-tube, on the pump-valve due to. its head, is less than the pressure of the heated gases in the well-cavl or if there is no oil in the well-tube. owev'er, since most oil-wells are so dee that the pressure, er

eoilinthe square-inch, of the Oll-COlllIllIl in the working barrel is considerabl greater than the pressure, per square-in of the gases in the well-cavity, a valve at or near the upper end of the well-tube then becomes super uous. From this follows that the heated, compressed gases have a two-fold function;

"well-tube, are capable of assisting the pump 55 showing its 4 a a sucrose in forcing the oil to the surface, rovided suitable pressure relations exist. t is obvious that such an expansion of these gases may be perfect and complete, therefore can 5 occur with a possible maximum of efficiency. At the same time these gases maintain the oil in the well-tube, until it is discharged therefrom, at such a tem erature, and in such a state of fluidity, t at any and all tendency to a thickening of the oil is entirely avoided. These gases, being composed of mtrogen and carbon dioxid mainly, with comparatively small, if any, quantities of oxygen and carbon monoxid, it follows that the oil may even be heated to vaporization without detriment since the gaseous medium willnot support combustion. Furthermore, the small quantity of water suspended in, and carried by, the gases as steam, remains in that condition, therefore can not affect the oil.

As can readily be perceived, the oil is thus heated with practically permanent and combustion-non-supporting gases, that can not have any deteriorating action on the oil or the paraflin. q

By the term permanent I wish to be understood as designating a gas or mixture of gases not subject under the conditions obtaining to chan e of physical state, and as distinguishing groin "steam, for example, which is subject to condensation and return to the liquid state.

With the foregoing and additional, minor,

objects in view, one of a series of plans, constructlons or arran ements of parts, that are deemed mechanical equivalents is hereinafter more specifically describe and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, disclosing therethrough one way in which my method of treating ried into practice.

In'these drawings, in which like characters of reference designate like parts in all of the views, Figure 1 is a vertical, central,

- longitudinal section of an internal-comb'ustion motor and the receiver for the com- .pressed waste-gases of the same. Fig. 2 is a verticahsectionfonline A A of Fig. 1, of

the variable-stroke device, showing its posi+ tionat the end of the discharge-stroke, that is, after having expelled all'of the wasteases. Fig. 31s a vertical section, on line A of Fig. 1, of thevariable-stroke device,

osition at the end of the compression-stro e and corres onding to the position shown. by Fig. 1. ig. 4 'is a vertical, central, longitudinal section, partly in view,

of the upper and lower parts of an oil-well and the pumping mechanism.

Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 represents mternal-combustion apparatus in accordance with my invention, ada ted to furnish heated gases that are of a su cient-ly permanent and neutral character to be suitpressure maintained therein. a bushing, as k, eceentrically-rotatablK g0 oil-wells may be car able for oil-wells, to cause the same to iiowv freely. This apparatus, or motor (since it may simultaneous furnish power), with its base a, cylinder iston 0, connectingrod d, crankin e, cran -wheels f f, suction- 7 valve h and ischarge-valve i as main parts, difi'erentiates from other heat-engines of this type, principally,.in that its piston is arranged to operate with an alte'rnatinglyvariable in-stroke, for the purpbse of dischar 'ng,during the exhaust stroke, prac-' tical y allof the gaseous waste-products of combustion into a receiver, as 7', against the To this end mounted on crank-pin e, is provided'=wit teeth, as Z, that mesh with the teeth of gear or pinionm whose shank n is immovably secured to base a. Bushing 7 having twice the number of teeth as pinion m, it is obviouss5 that by suitably dimensioning connectingrod d and correspondingly adjustingthe eccentricity of bushing k relative to piston c, the latter may be caused to move at each alternate instroke (which is to form the '90 exhaustor discharge-stroke) far enough into the cylinder to contact its head or inner end and thereby, practically, obviate all clearance.

In Fig. 1 the pistonis shown at the end of the com ression-stroke, (this apparatus operating with a-four-stroke cycle) 1n which position revolving toothed bushing is and stationary pinion m are engaged as shown more clearly in Fig. 3. At, or about, this phase of the cycle ignition of the charge takes place at o, the fuel being introduced at or otherwise. Duringthe compression and following combustion stroke, dischargevalve 2' is shown to be held to its seat by the pressure of the contents of receiver 7' plus that of springs a z, provided the-pressure thus-realized is at all times in excess of the pressure in the cylinder. Should,however,

the cylinder-pressure, during the o eration rise above the receiver-pressure, t en discharge-valve z'will be forced off its seat and remain open as long as the pressure in the cylinder 1s greater t an that in the recelver,

as a consequence of which a corresponding a discharge of air, or waste-gases, into thereceiver, will take place during that per od- The work of this motor thus conslsts, mainl in compressing its waste-gases and trans erring or forcing the same into a re- 1 ceiver; in other words, this apparatus forms a self-actuating gas-compressor. By suitably proportioning and adjusting the operating parts, however, motive power may be obtained to any desired extent with n the capacity of the apparatus, in addition to that part of it which is represented by the energy of the compressed gases.

As is clear from Fig. 1, valves k and i,

of which the former is held to its seat by 13L1 or -end in such a manner that they may be recurrin lyeriodically contacted, or lifted, by the CfiJS 'end of the piston at the end of each discharge-stroke, or alternate in-stroke, d to bring about a substantially complete discharge of the waste gases under pressure Inthis motor the crank-wheels f f are shown to serve the purpose of fly-wheels, which latter are suitably journaled in base a. The

,compressed gases which thus'passfrom cylinder 6 into receiver j through chamber 1) and conduit 7'', are led through suitable conduits and valves, as j" and g, respectively, into and down well-casing 1' to fill well-cavity 8 and to subsequently pass from there into and up well-tube t through the anchor t and working-barrel t of the same. A stuffing-box w closes the top of well-casing 1', at the same time maintaining well-tube in its position, as shown by Fig. 4, this tube t being provided with an outlet conduit y that may be controlled by a valve, as 2. valve, (foot-valve) as u, is preferably placed in tube at between anchor t and workingbarrel t", while pump-rod w carries at its lower end valve 12, (standing-valve), rod w slidably passing through the upper, closed end y of tube t.

Assuming the oil-well shown in Fig. 4 to have ceased to flow freely by reason of the crevices and interstices in the wall of wellcavity 8 having become clog d, due to the oleaginous coating on the we 1- or tube-surfaces, the heated gases on passing down casing 1 and up tube t to leave the latter through a contracted passage in valve 2 (if tube t does not contain anye liquid), first melt any coating that may on the welland tube-surfaces and thereby produce a clear assage. Due to the pressure of the heate gases, which in this instance may be controlled by valve .2, these gases are then capable of penetratin the oil-bearing crevices and cracks and o melting the obstructing deposits, and it; is, obviously, merely a matter of subjecting the well with all its fpassages a suflicient ength of time to the in- -uence of gases that possess a suitable degree of heat and pressure to thoroughly heat the well-cavity with its walls to suchan extent or radius as to produce a steady flow with maximum capacit Should tube t be fil ed with oil, orsufliciently so that the pressure of the column of oil resting on valve '0 approximates the pres sure of the gases in the well-cavity, then the use of valve z'may be dispensed with, since the weight of this column of liquid, whether oil or water, by loading valve '1: prevents too free an escape of the gases up through the well-tube and thereby maintains a certain pressure in the well-cavity, which is essential to thoroughly penetrate the crevices of v for the full length thereof, thus heating the the shot-hole. By most suitably selecting the pressure of the heated waste-gases the same may be caused to aid the pump in bringing the oil to the'surface in an economical and rational manner, since these gases in coming to the surface with the oil gradually expand to'atmos -heric pressure,- whereby all of the energy in the gases due to pressure is converted into useful work. "When utilizing the high-pressure gases for pumping purposes the ordinary pump may be employed as usual, if so desired.

In treating an oil-well according to my invention, the same is closed at the top of the casing and heated, combusticn-non-suppprting gases are forced into the well-cavity through the casing, thereby also heating the well-tube from without, to subsequently pass to the surface through the well-tube, while maintaining said flowing ases under a suitably high pressure, thus ma ing itpossible and practicable to heatithe well with its oil-yielding crevices and passa es to the surface at such a temperature tiat any clogging of the same is made impossible. It is also obvious that oil-wells may be treated according to my method without in any way interfering with the pumping apparatus of the same, and that a paratus similar to the one herein describe ma be ermanently used, either in conjunction with existing' pumping apparatus or by arranging the in-' ternal-combustion apparatus described to operate the pump in addition to furnishing heated combustion-gases under pressure.

The operating arts shown in Fig. 4 are those usually emp oyed with oil-raising a paratus but, obviously, the same may fie varied widely in their constructional features without affecting the scope of the invention. The apparatus for producing heated gases of the nature and for the purpose described ahd shown in Fi 1, 2 and 3 ma also be constructed. on different lines an operate in a manner materially deviating from the one shown and described, I therefore do not wish to be confined to the means shown to carry out my method.

Having thus described my invention and in what manner the same may be carried 1 into practice, what I claim is w 1. The herein described method of treating oil-wells, the same consisting in closing the opening of the well, and forcing a heated, permanent, combustion-non-su porting gas- 12 eous medium under pressure into the well about the upper portion of the well-tube, thence along and surrounding the outside of the well-tube vfor substantiall the full length thereof thus heating the full length of the well-tube from without, into the well-cavity, heating the same and the crevices thereof, and thence up the inside of said well-tube full length of t e well-tube from within.

The herein described method of treat-' ing oil-wells, the same consisting in closin the opening of the well and forcinga heate -mixture of nitrogen an carbon-dioxid lmder pressure into the well about the upper portion of the well-tube, thence alon and surroundin the outside of the we] '-tube for substantially the full len h thereof, thus heating the full length of t e well tube from -eous medium under pressure into the well about the upper portion of the well-tube thence along and surrounding the outside of the well-tube for substantially the full length thereof, thus heating the 'full length of the tube from without, into the well-cavity, heating the same and the crevices thereof, and thence u the inside of said well-tube for substantia ly the full lengththereof, thus heating the full length of the well-tube from within, and regulating theoutfiow of said medium from said tube.

4. The herein described method of treatin oil-wells having customary wellstubes an plungers and pump-rods therein, liquefying the congealed matter in the passages thereof without removing or interfering with such pumping apparatus, the same conslsting m closing the opening of the well, and forcing a heated, permanent, combustion-n on-supportin gaseous medium under pressure into the we 1 about the upper portion of the welltube, thence along and surrounding the outside of the well-tube for substantially the full length thereof, thus heating the full length of the well-tube from without,'into the well-cavity, heating the same and the crevices thereof, and thence up the inside of said well-tube for the full length thereof, thus heating the full length of the well-tube from'within.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, this 10th day of Fe ruary, 1909, in the presence of two witnesses.

ALFRED P. ELTEN. Witnesses:

C. H. MCINTYRE, L. A. BORDEN. 

